Marcus Bontempelli has endured a tough initiation as Western Bulldogs captain.
A heavy Round 1 loss was followed by the hard task of leading a playing group which was immediately forced into isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Then, he found himself navigating through a drink-driving incident involving his close friend and the Club’s vice-captain, Lachie Hunter.
It’s a lot to handle even for a natural leader, and Bontempelli found himself combining elements of disappointment with support as he navigated through the issues of the last five days.
“He and I are pretty close mates, and have been for a number of years, particularly throughout the last couple of years with his growth from a leadership point of view,” Bontempelli said on this week’s episode of the Barkly Street podcast.
“In these early stages I’ve tried to support him as best that I can, while he’s going through these challenging sorts of circumstances.
“But ultimately we’re pretty disappointed in his actions and behaviours that have impacted a lot of different people.
“He knows that, he knows where I stand with it. He knows from a leadership point of view the example that you’ve got to set.”
Bontempelli believes that with the right support mechanisms in place, Hunter will grasp the opportunity to rebuild trust among his team-mates and the Club as quickly as possible.
“The support has to be the priority. If I was in his position, you’d hope you’d get the support you can to get through this,” he said.
“But at the same time, you know how people would feel about your actions and behaviours.
“You can clearly tell from his statements yesterday and his obvious choice to stand down from the vice-captaincy position, that he understands the magnitude of his actions.
“It’s not something you can easily atone for. It’s going to be something over time he has to work through. That’s what I’ll mostly be guiding him on, is how he can do that.”
Listen to previous episodes of the Barkly Street podcast, with Bob Murphy and Marcus Bontempelli
